Da Gimp

Heres the situation:

I have 17" wheels with the stock potenzas. The tread on the fronts is good because the dealer replaced them due to feathering. The tread on the rear wheels is getting pretty thin, plus we are starting to get some icy weather. Basically I'd like to throw some high performance all seasons on the back, (I dont want to have both winter and summer tires because thats a pain, especially when you get only a few snow days a year) something like this:


http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....odel=ECSTA+ASX

And I have heard that the stock rear wheels can fit tires up to 255 wide. So if I got some of those in size 255/50/17 would I be doing anything stupid?

I know mixing certain types of tires front and back is bad (radial vs non radial the only issue to worry about?)

grifferjr

well i am about to sound like the pot calling the kettle black but i dont think that would be the best idea. i am being a little bit of a hypocrit cause i have all seasons on the front and blizzacks on the rear cause its winter (in the summer i sport some 19's).

the stock 040's are not intended in any way shape or form for weather below 40 degrees it seems and they are not even technically for wet weather let alone snow. with the all season you would have a car that would have some major under steer cause your rears would grab a decent amount and the fronts wouldnt.

i know this in theory is what i have also but in my case my fronts being the all weathers are about 1000% better than the 040's, thats how bad those suckers are!!!!

baileyrx

iTrader: (16)

a better size would be 255/45 r17 a little closer to stock height

Da Gimp

Ok, I guess I will just get all seasons on all 4 if I have to. Can someone confirm that on stock 17 inch wheels I can fit 245/45/17 on the front and 255/45/17 on the rear?

BadDriver

iTrader: (1)

are you planning on keeping whichever all seasons you get on your car year round? Or are you planning on doing a winter and summer set? I have a performance (comes with 18" stock) and I bought 17" rims and dunlop winter sport M3 all-season snow tires. Tire size is 225/50 up front and 225/55 in rear. They work excellent in the cold and do ok with small amounts of snow. Overall I'm very happy with them as a winter tire, but the dry performance is noticably worse. I got them from the tire rack with the rims as a package.

To address your question, why do you want to put such large width tires on the front and back? For rain and snow traction the narrower the tire the better traction you will get.

Da Gimp

I think I'll just use all seasons year around. I don't track it or anything so I don't particularly need ultra high performance summer tires. I like the aggressive look of wide tires, but I don't have the cash to buy wider wheels at the moment. why would wider be worse if theres a bigger road contact patch? Anyway I bet they would still be 3 times better than the potenzas on anything except bare dry pavement.

baileyrx

iTrader: (16)

i have that set-up on my 2003 coupe, for just over a year now. No problems!!

BadDriver

iTrader: (1)

According to discounttiredirect.com the correct plus zero tire size is, "245/45-17" front and "245/50-17" rear. But looking at the great tire size calculator available at http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html you can see that the sizes you asked about (245/45 and 255/45) will work well and not mess up your spedometer. I will check with a buddy of mine who installs tires to confirm the sizes you ask about, and get back to you soon.

In the dry wider is better, because you are trying to get the most contact area. But in the wet and snow you are trying to evacuate water (or snow) and the larger the tire the less pressure you will be exerting per unit area on the road surface. Think about wearing snow shoes versus boots. The bottom line is there is a comprimise.